Date: 22 December 2013
Location: Reynolds & Linda
T’was the night before Christmas—actually it was the night before, the night before, the night before Christmas—and all though the house—the Happy Bookers were gathering for a discussion of The Christmas Train by David Baldacci.
For those familiar with other Baldacci novels, this book is a departure from the plot development and twists we were expecting—actually the end of the book was quite a twist so maybe it isn’t that much of a departure. Our hero, the disillusioned journalist Tom Langdon sets off on a cross country train trip during the Christmas season and is more than surprised to find his long lost girlfriend and fellow journalist, Eleanor Carter, boarding the train with a film crew who are putting together a film about traveling by train. What are the chances for someone taking a train trip to write a story about traveling via train being joined by film crew doing the same thing? I guess the clues were there if we had been paying attention. There are some interesting characters traveling with Tom, in fact, you would have thought that Central Casting had thrown together a group to make Tom’s trip a memorable one (hint, hint). Having the woman Tom is on his way to see join the group on the train, the train being trapped by some well placed avalanches, Tom and Eleanor skiing for help, and having mysterious thefts occurring during the trip all add to the pathos. In the end, it is revealed that the whole thing was a plot to see if Tom and Eleanor deserve to be together, and all ends happily with Tom and Eleanor heading off together, a disturbed sometimes thief being put off the train for a better life, the train expert getting his old job back, and the true Santa Claus being revealed.
Most of the assembled Bookers had read the book and everyone seemed to have liked this easy to read book. There didn’t seem to be much in the book that needed discussion and after a few minutes, the discussion morphed into a discussion of train travel. We learned that some of the group had extensive experience with train travel and indeed, there was talk of trips by train being planned. This book did indeed provide a rich experience of what traveling by train was like.
Following the train discussion, we adjourned to the kitchen for soups, salad, and desserts … the desserts were complete with calories. It was pointed out that we didn’t have a book for our next meeting and Bob suggested The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and all agreed.
And as the group dispersed and fled out of sight, I heard … a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
— Reynolds